Viewpoints fills you in on some grilling do’s and don’ts to make your summer grilling experience fun, exciting, and mistake-free.

Warmer weather and baseball home openers mean one thing: grilling season is upon us. To get grilling sooner this season, Viewpoints has put together a list of grilling do’s, a major grilling don’t, and recommended grill purchases, as suggested by Viewpoints reviewers. Let the cookouts begin. Read the rest of this entry »

Good grilling usually comes down to one thing: temperature. The iGrill (pictured) allows you to monitor the heat with your iPhone. Also consider a product by ThermoWorks. Both are recommended by Viewpoints.

In suburban Chicago, Craig “Meathead” Goldwyn has five grills on his deck. But he has an excuse. Craig runs the Web site amazingribs.com which can be a griller’s best friend. With tips and tricks and recipes, Craig’s site is smokin’! Meathead says good grilling all comes down to the temperature of your meat. Too high, and your guests are eating leather. Too cool, and everybody gets sick and never wants to come to your house again. So you need an accurate thermometer. We have a couple of fun grilling gadgets that will take the temperature of your meat so your meal turns out just right.

Are you supposed to salt your steak before putting it on the grill? How do you know chicken is done? What’s the secret to keeping fish from sticking? Don’t make the mistakes many amateur grillers do!

There are some grilling techniques that work for whatever you’re making. Always remember to marinate – it adds flavor and also reduces the risk of cancer that is caused from charring food. Remember to use a meat thermometer and other basic grilling tools. But there are also some techniques that are specific to the type of meat you’re working with. You can use this easy guide on how to grill and prepare the perfect burger, chicken, fish or steak.

Check out this advice from Viewpoints to make sure your prime rib, crusted in garlic, rosemary and horseradish, tastes as great as it looks.

What if some of your go-to grilling techniques were actually compromising the flavor of your food? Not a fun thing to think about is it? To make that steak, or whatever you’re cooking, absolutely perfect take a look at five common grilling mistakes to make sure you’re grilling like a pro.

A staggering 14 million mattresses wind up in U.S. landfills each year. Just 2 percent of old mattresses are recycled, according to a mattress trade group that’s calling on Congress to do something.

You could just throw your old mattress out, but the last thing we need is more trash — and mattresses are particularly bad to have in landfills. Instead, see if you’re among a small but growing number of consumers with local options for mattress recycling.

Mythic Paint might be an up and coming eco friendly paint. But does it stand up to this reviewer’s test?

As my eco home remodeling adventure continues, I have moved on to painting various rooms in my house. Paint is one of the main culprits of releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polluting indoor air with health adverse chemicals. After hearing mixed reviews about the performance of low VOC paint, I was a bit hesitant to test Mythic Paint in a large room. I started with the guest bathroom and tested the eggshell enamel paint in celestial blue, and ended up being pleasantly surprised.

Bed Bugs, the biggest fear of every dorm dweller, apartment super, and hotel visitor in America. Have scientists found a way to dispose of these pests?

Reestablishing themselves as an infuriating pest in American homes and hotels, bed bugs in recent years have withstood the oppositional efforts of research scientists, public health officials and pest-control professionals. No one quite knows how to get rid of them. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of spray products that promise to do just that. One bed bugs treatment in particular sounded too good to be true. Rest Easy combines all-natural oils (cinnamon, lemongrass, mint and clove) for a spray it claims is both environmentally friendly and deadly effective. But does Rest Easy work as well as it claims?

Vacuuming can be a huge hassle, so lightweight vacuums are a great solution to easily keeping your home clean on an everyday basis. These vacuum cleaners are easy on your back but tough on dust and dirt.

Lightweight vacuums are easy to maneuver but still effective. The catch is that lightweight vacuums are generally so light because they don’t have as many extra features or tools as other vacuums and can’t take on such heavy-duty jobs. For the best lightweight vacuum you need to consider how much weight you can handle and also be sure you aren’t sacrificing any useful vacuum features. Lightweight vacuums can still have incredible cleaning power along with convenience. We’ll share a few of our faves with you as well as how they weigh in with our reviewers.

If you’re interested in sewing, especially if you are going to be using a machine, you might want to learn some of these sewing terms to help you along the way.

Can you point to the ‘feed dog’ on a sewing machine? Learn these sewing terms and you’ll be a smarter shopper and sew with more confidence. Viewpoints has defined the most common parts of a sewing machine.